Human Rights Watch is asking the US Congress to block Türkiye from transferring tens of thousands of decades-old cluster munitions to Ukraine. The State Department had earlier told Congress it is prepared to authorize the deal, which Ukraine wants to strengthen its firepower against the Russian invasion. 

What Türkiye wants to send

Türkiye has requested US permission to retransfer to Ukraine tens of thousands of cluster munition rockets, missiles, and artillery shells held in its stockpiles for decades. The package covers Türkiye's entire inventory of 12 M270 rocket launchers and three types of cluster munitions: 70 M39 ATACMS ballistic missiles, 2,524 M26 rockets, and 47,000 M509A1 203mm artillery shells, according to the State Department transmittal sheets.

The deal is valued at $256 million. Together, the rounds hold more than 10 million explosive bomblets, Human Rights Watch said, produced in part by Türkiye under US licenses first issued in 1987. The US removed the M509A1 shells from service in 1994, when the howitzers that fired them retired, according to HRW.

Cluster munitions scatter small bomblets across a wide area, and some fail to explode on impact, leaving hazards that can maim civilians long after fighting ends.

Ukraine, for its part, gave Washington written assurances not to fire earlier US-supplied cluster rounds in civilian-populated urban areas, and US officials said Kyiv had kept to its use constraints.

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What Washington says

A senior State Department official notified Congress that it is prepared to authorize the transfer, in documents printed in the Congressional Record on 6 August. Türkiye wants to shed older stock and focus its money on modern systems, the official said. Ukraine wants the munitions to bolster its fire support as it resists the invasion, the official added, noting that Ukraine already fields the same or nearly identical rounds. Congress can review the deal and pass a resolution of disapproval to block it.

Human Rights Watch argues the age and unreliability of the weapons make them a foreseeable hazard to civilians. Human Rights Watch deputy Washington director Nicole Widdersheim said the more-than-30-year-old munitions are inaccurate and prone to failure, and that their impact on civilians drove 112 countries to ban the weapon under the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

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The same group has documented Russia's cluster attacks since 2022

Human Rights Watch opposes the weapon for all sides and has tracked Russia's use of it throughout the war. It documented repeated Russian cluster strikes since 2022, called a Russian attack on Lyman a possible war crime, and logged further strikes on civilians in its World Report chapters on Ukraine.

In each case, the group called on Russia to stop firing the weapon. On the Türkiye deal, it is asking Congress for something more concrete — to kill the transfer before the munitions reach Ukraine.

Emergency services in Kyiv have recovered fragments of cluster munitions following the overnight Russian missile and drone attack on June 17, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported, calling it further evidence of Russia's "genocide" against Ukrainians.

"In the capital's Nyvky neighborhood, emergency workers are now finding these kinds of cluster munition parts," Klitschko said in a statement shared on social media. "Another clear sign of the genocide Russia is committing against Ukrainians."

Cluster munitions are banned under international law by more than 100 countries due to their indiscriminate nature and the long-term threat they pose to civilians, especially when unexploded submunitions remain hidden in residential areas.

While Russia and Ukraine are not signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, international humanitarian organizations have repeatedly condemned the use of such weapons in populated areas. Ukraine uses cluster munitions on the battlefield against Russian forces.

The mayor's comments came hours after one of the largest and deadliest attacks on the Ukrainian capital in months, in which at least 15 people were killed and nearly 100 injured. The Russian strike, which lasted nearly nine hours, included waves of kamikaze drones, ballistic missiles, and what authorities now confirm were banned explosive parts.

President Volodymyr Zelensky called the assault "one of the most horrifying attacks on Kyiv," saying more than 440 drones and 32 missiles were launched across Ukraine overnight.

"Such attacks are pure terrorism," he said in a statement on social media. "And the whole world, the U.S., and Europe must finally respond as civilized societies respond to terrorists."

Zelensky confirmed that damage had been reported in eight districts of Kyiv, with emergency workers still searching for survivors beneath the rubble of a destroyed apartment block.

He added that strikes also hit Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, and Kyiv regions. "Fifteen people are confirmed dead. My condolences to their families and loved ones," Zelensky said.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also condemned the attack, calling it a "massive and brutal strike" timed deliberately to coincide with the G7 summit, which is taking place in Canada on June 16-17.

Russian drone strike on Odesa injures 13, including 1 child

Russian drone strikes on Odesa early June 17 injured 13 people, including one child, regional authorities reported.

The Kyiv IndependentLucy Pakhnyuk